


those who came before

by sparxwrites



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Character Study, Child Soldiers, Cross-Campaign, Gen, Spies & Secret Agents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-02-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:34:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22821871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparxwrites/pseuds/sparxwrites
Summary: “These are my students,” says Magister Ikithon, gesturing to the portraits that line the hallway leading to his office. “A portrait for every man and woman whose training I have taken a… personal interest in. You, Astrid, and Eodwulf are merely the latest in a long line of illustrious individuals, Bren, taught and molded by myself, who have gone on to do great and important works for the Empire and the King. I have high expectations.”(In which Bren gets a lesson about his predecessors.)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 51





	those who came before

“These are my students,” says Magister Ikithon, gesturing to the portraits that line the hallway leading to his office. “A portrait for every man and woman whose training I have taken a… personal interest in. You, Astrid, and Eodwulf are merely the latest in a long line of illustrious individuals, Bren, taught and molded by myself, who have gone on to do great and important works for the Empire and the King. I have high expectations.”

It sounds more like a threat than a warning, but Bren is so enthralled by the finery - soft carpet beneath his feet, fine oil paintings on the walls, gilt on the plastered cornice of the ceiling, wood paneling in dark, expensive mahogany - that he hardly notices. “Yes, Magister Ikithon,” he agrees, eyes wide and flicking from portrait to portrait as the walk. “I won’t let you down.”

Magister Ikithon hums, softly, in a way that could be either thoughtful or disapproving, but Bren hardly notices that either. This is more luxury, more wealth, on casual display than he thought possible. The Soltryce Academy had been opulent, of course, but that was an institute of learning, housing hundreds of students, teachers, researchers, and officials. This was a _house_ \- a home for one single man, and not even a _first_ home, but a second one in the country.

It puts Bren’s childhood home, with its cold stone floors and drafty walls and rough-hewn pine furniture, to shame.

Some of the portraits are missing, empty frames with the images carefully removed, but a nameplate left underneath. “Those are the spies,” says Magister Ikithon, when he catches Bren staring, his voice as warm as Bren’s ever heard it with pride. “The agents, those who go undercover and undetected for the good of the empire. It would be dangerous, of course, to leave their images up on display for anyone to see.”

“Of course, Magister Ikithon,” echoes Bren, obediently, staring up at an empty wooden-gilt oval labelled _Olivia Petarch_ and wondering if maybe, one day that will be him - if he does well here, makes Magister Ikithon proud, will his reward be an empty picture frame on the wall, labelled with a name that is no longer his?

Distracted, he misses the way Magister Ikithon’s lips twitch in amusement. 

They reach the study door eventually, after an almost-endless trek down the long, narrow corridor, overseen by the portrait-ghosts of students past. They stop, right before the thick mahogany of Magister Ikithon’s study door, and Bren spends the time it takes Magister Ikithon to unlock it staring at the final portrait, the first student, with wide eyes.

“What about this one?” he dares ask, as the study door clicks open, staring at the final portrait. Or rather- where the final portrait _should_ be, and where instead there is a charred patch on the wood paneling, and no portrait. Just a name plate, and nothing else.

Magister Ikithon sighs, heavily, his lips thinning with displeasure. “A reminder,” he says, irritation thick in each word. 

“As you will discover, I draw students from various institutions around the city, not just the Academy. It is an unusual year, that I have taken three school-trained wizards. All my students are, of course, adept in the arcane arts - but the Empire has need of many talents, many skills, and for that sometimes we must seek further afield than the hallowed halls of the Soltryce Academy.

“My first student, the student whose portrait should hang here, was from the Guild of Surgeons. A promising young mind, by all accounts an exceptionally talented woman in the anatomical arts, and from… _humble_ beginnings, just like yourself. Unlike you, though, she allowed the poverty of her upbringing to… _warp_ her. She became a traitor, and an enemy to the Empire and the King. She was… my first, and _last_ , error of judgement. I keep her name on the wall as a reminder, to prevent further _errors_.”

Bren bites his lip as he stares at the scorch mark, hesitates, even as Magister Ikithon strides through the mahogany door. “What happened to her, Magister?” he asks, quietly.

“Dead,” answers Magister Ikithon from within the room, flatly, “for her hubris. Now. Enough questions, boy, I don’t have all day. Come along.”

Ever the good student, Bren complies - but not before pausing a second longer to take a last look at the scorch mark burned deep through the wood paneling and wall, and at the soot-stained golden plaque underneath that bears the name _Anna Ripley_ in elegant cursive.

**Author's Note:**

> the prompt was: "Whump prompt (if you want to, of course): Anna Ripley and Ikithon collaborating on something truly awful. Perhaps this line from the critical role wiki: "However, she was caught doing illegal human experimentation, attempting to use arcane diseases as the basis for new biological and chemical weapons." The whumpee would probably have to be a oc, but they could also be a Lorelei." as usual, i wrote something barely adjacent to this, and called it a prompt fill. B) i don't know if the timelines make sense, but i don't actually care, so it's fine!
> 
> find me @ sparxwrites on tumblr, as always.


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